<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Sister's Torment by love4writing</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25977250">A Sister's Torment</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/love4writing/pseuds/love4writing'>love4writing</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:55:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25977250</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/love4writing/pseuds/love4writing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How do two sisters end up not speaking? What was the moment when one of them decided that she would take a very different path?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Sister's Torment</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dark-haired girl sat quietly on her bed. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared at the floor. She could just make out the sounds of the people downstairs. Her sister was chattering away, clearly very excited and her parents asked questions. All Petunia could hear were the sounds, not quite able to make out the words but it didn’t matter. After three years, she knew exactly what was going on. For most of the year, Petunia could pretend it didn’t matter to her but whenever her sister was home, it became impossible to pretend. She had refused to go with her parents to the train station this time, claiming she didn’t feel well. So, the footsteps on the stairs told her she’d better lie down and pretend to be asleep or she’d have to talk to whoever it was. She faced the wall, away from the door, and frowned. There was a knock on the door before it opened.</p><p>“Tunie?”</p><p>Petunia didn’t move and she didn’t reply.</p><p>After a moment, she heard the door shut and she continued to lie there. Her hand resting under the pillow felt a piece of paper. She pulled it out, wondering what it was. It was a faded yellow parchment envelope addressed to Miss Petunia Evans. She frowned at the envelope. The man who had written to her had explained that it wouldn’t be possible for her to ever go to Hogwarts, even though Petunia was an excellent student. She had shoved the letter under the pillow after she had read it two weeks back. She stared at the envelope.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter anyway,” she whispered to the envelope as if it could hear her. “I hate you.”</p><p>She glanced out her window, which overlooked the street. That boy was there, in front of the house. Petunia frowned. As if sensing that he was being watched, he looked up towards the window and she quickly ducked out of the way. She watched and listened as he knocked on the door. Several moments later, Lily walked outside and the two headed up the street, talking quietly. Or at least, the boy was talking. It looked like Lily was just walking, staring at the sidewalk as if she had serious concerns about the person she walked with.</p><p>Petunia sat back down on the bed.</p><p>Thoughts raced through her head.</p><p>How could her parents think that magic was so wonderful?<br/>Why was it Lily and not her?<br/>Why did Lily still hang around that mean boy?<br/>If she couldn’t ever go to Hogwarts, then what could she do?<br/>How could she make her parents pay attention to her?</p><p>Slowly, a plan began to form in her mind. If she just followed all the rules, maybe they would see. If she had perfect grades, a perfect boyfriend, a perfect house, a perfect family… Maybe then, they would love her again as much as they loved her sister. Maybe then they would be proud of her again. Maybe then they would talk excitedly in the kitchen about all the things that Petunia was doing.</p><p>It was late at night when Petunia crept downstairs with a bundle of yellowed envelopes in her hand. She grabbed the metal bucket that sat next to the door. She pulled the matches out of her pocket and set the bucket on the ground. Slowly, as if she wasn’t sure that it would burn, she lit one of the envelopes on fire. One by one, she lit the envelopes on fire and tossed them into the bucket. She stood there are watched them burn. When the last one finally burned out, she picked up the bucket and dumped it into the trash can and then neatly set the bucket back on the step where it always was. </p><p>From a small bedroom upstairs, the red-haired girl heard the back door close quietly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened to the dark-haired girl climb up the stairs to her room. There was a quiet click of the other girl’s door closing. Lily quietly picked up the piece of parchment that she had sitting next to her on the bed. She could pour her heart out and she knew that he would be quiet about it. She picked up the quill and dipped it in the ink sitting next to her and wrote “Dear Remus…”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>